Organic Components of Cells

ORGANIC COMPONENTS OF CELLS Carbohydrate Carbohydrates is a term that includes sugars and their polymers, with the simplest form being monosaccharides which play a large role in cellular respiration as an energy source. Sugar molecules that are not used immediately are usually stored as monomers combined into disaccharides or polysaccharides, namely polymers consisting of many simple sugar molecule bonds. Many polysaccharides function as storage or reserve material that will be hydrolyzed to provide sugar for cells. The function of a polysaccharide is determined by its sugar monomers as well as by the position of its glycosidic bonds. The storage polysaccharide in plants is starch, with the simplest polymer form being amylose which has unbranched chains. Meanwhile, in animals the stored polysaccharide is glycogen, which is a glucose polymer which is similar to amylopectin but with more branching. Structural polysaccharides are a form of glucose polymer which plays a role in building strengthening materials for organisms. Cellulose is an example of a structural polysaccharide as the main component of the hard walls that surround plant cells. In animals there is chitin which is a carbohydrate used by arthropods (insects, spiders, crustaceans and other similar animals) to build the animal's exoskeleton (outer skeleton). Lipids Lipids are biological macromolecules that have no or very little affinity for water, so they tend to be hydrophobic. Lipids have important groups: phospholipids and steroids, which play many roles in cell metabolic processes. Phospholipids are an important component in cell membranes and will make up the cell membrane. Together with certain proteins, phospholipids, including cholesterol, together form cell membranes and provide a liquid character. This fluid or liquid character makes the cell membrane change shape flexibly and move according to the mechanisms required by the cell. With the neutral nature of lipids and their low affinity for water, lipids become separators or separators between one cell and another cell as well as cells and their medium environment. The presence of lipids makes the cell membrane have the ability to carry out a selection process for molecules that will cross the cell membrane. The types of lipids in biomembranes are usually phosphoglycerides, sphingolipids and steroids. Phospoglyceride is a class of lipids found in cell membranes and is a derivative of glycerol 3-phosphate. Sphingolipids are derivatives of sphingosine with long hydrocarbon chains. Meanwhile, steroids are lipids characterized by a carbon skeleton with four fused rings. Many hormones, including vertebrate sex hormones, are steroids produced from cholesterol. Proteins Proteins are macromolecules which are also important components of cell membranes with most of their domains being hydrophobic. Proteins have an important role in every mechanism carried out by cells, and are also used for structural support, storage, transport of other substances, sending signals, movement, and defense against organisms or foreign substances. Proteins also act as enzymes, by selectively regulating metabolism to speed up biochemical reactions in cells. In organisms there are thousands of proteins with specific structures and functions for each molecule. A variety of proteins are basically polymers that are built from the same collection of 20 amino acids, arranged specifically to form amino acid polymers called polypeptides. Amino acids will bond to each other through covalent bonds called peptide bonds. Polypeptides range in length from a few monomers to a thousand or more monomers. Based on the composition of polypeptides and the bonds that will form conformations, proteins have four levels of structure, namely: primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary. The primary structure of a protein is its unique sequence consisting of amino acids. In the form of a protein complex, the primary strand can be twisted, folded and coiled precisely to become a specific functional protein. Especially for the quaternary level, proteins with two or more polypeptide chains are needed. Nucleic Acid The amino acid sequence of a polypeptide is programmed by a gene, which is a unit of inheritance of genetic characteristics in the form of a piece of DNA which is a polymer compound and is known as nucleic acid. The two types of nucleic acids are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). The existence of these nucleic acids allows living organisms to reproduce their complex components from one generation to the next. DNA is the genetic material that organisms inherit from their parents with hundreds or even thousands of genes. DNA contains all the information needed to build cells and tissues in an organism's body. The precise and accurate location of information in DNA will be passed down from one generation to the next for the development of an individual. Genetic messages from DNA go through a process called transcription, where the message will be conveyed in the form of a triplet base code called a codon and will be conveyed by RNA to be translated through a translation mechanism. These two important activities are important mechanisms in protein synthesis. SUMMARY 1. Chemical bonds that occur between molecules to support cell life which will ultimately support the life of organisms occur in the water environment. 2. The bonds between molecules are hydrophilic (like water), and hydrophobic (avoid water), or have both properties, namely amphipathic (have areas with hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties) as found in phospholipids. 3. A covalent bond is the sharing of a pair of valence electrons by two atoms, and makes atoms such as amino acids connected. 4. Non-covalent bonds help connect each other so that together they form a complementary structure that has a special function. 5. The presence of water plays an important role in the environment with its four main properties, namely: 1) cohesive behavior, 2) ability to stabilize temperature, 3) expansion when frozen, and 4) as a solvent. 6. Inorganic components of cells are vitamins and minerals that are in the water environment of cells. These components do not stand alone but are always connected to other atoms or molecules, thus providing a certain structure with a specific function. 7. Organic components are four important macromolecules in cell life, namely: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids.